blogs/rabbi-avi-taff

Swastikas as lawn decorations in Sacramento.  A Jewish student thought to be unfit for a UCLA Judicial committee, solely because she is Jewish. Jews targeted and killed in Europe.  BDS.  One would think we are living in a different time period.  It has been over 75 years since the Holocaust; one would think that humanity would have learned by now.  It is 2015 and we Jews are still experiencing anti-Semitism, hatred for Jews and the “other” still exists and so what do we do?

It is easy to sit back.  Living in Los Angeles, a mecca of Jewish life, we are comfortable. Fully accepted as equals in our society, maybe more so than any other time in Jewish History.  

Perhaps it could not be more fitting for us to be celebrating Purim right now. The Megillah, thought to be satirical, yet when unmasked, a timeless message for here and now. 

This I learned from my teacher, Rabbi Feinstein.  Chapter 4 of the Megillah gives up deep insight into the psyche of Esther.  

Mordechai learns of Haman's decree to annihilate the Jews and immediately tears his clothes, puts on sackcloth and begins to walk through the city crying out loudly and bitterly until he arrives at the gates of the palace.  Esther learns of this and her response? 

“The queen was greatly agitated”

Esther would send clothing but Mordechai refused to change.  Esther then sent Hathach, her eunuch, to see what this commotion was all about.  Mordechai informed Hathach of Haman's decree, charging Esther to go to the king and plead on behalf of her people.  Upon relaying this information to the queen, Esther replies, 

“All the King's courtiers and the people of the king's provinces know that if any person, man or woman, enters the kings presence in the inner court without having been summoned, there is but one law for him- that he be put to death.  Only if the king extends the golden scepter to him may he live. Now I have not been summoned to visit the king for the last thirty days.”

At first we see Esther agitated due to Mordechai's behavior. How could he embarrass her by coming to the palace dressed in sackcloth, screaming and crying.  She became so comfortable in the palace, her life as queen was pretty good.  Why risk her life?

Mordechai sends the following words back to Esther, 

“Think not yourself that in the king's palace you shall escape, any more than all the Jews…And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time  like this?”

It is only after this message from Mordechai that Esther agrees to go to the king and plead on behalf of her people.  

The brave and confident queen Esther of our youth, the hero who saved the Jewish people from utter destruction is tragically flawed.  We see an Esther who at first places self before her people until ultimately realizing her purpose, her place in history.  This is an Esther that I want to believe in. 

We are Esther; Esther is us.  No, we are not facing the same degree of hatred that the Jewish people once faced, but we are confronted with the same choices of Esther.  Do we sit back and watch as Jews around the world are persecuted? Do we say, to ourselves, “I am safe in the shtetl of Encino!” or do we recognize that we are ultimately responsible to look outside of self.  Are we willing to believe that maybe we were called upon for such a time like this! 

To be honest, I am not sure where to start and even how to approach our current reality, but, let us at least begin the conversation.  

Let this Purim teach us to be like Esther; ordinary people who have the ability to take extraordinary action.